[James Hutchins]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

It's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Did you ever consider that no one ever asked you?
You are of no importance. Only God matters. Why are you so self centered?

[BelieverInGod]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

It's pretty amazing if you ask me.

What's amazing? God? Definitely!

[Poodleinacan]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

First, I speak for myself, as an atheist (since atheist is lack of belief in any god, that doesn't mean an atheist can't believe in reincarnation and such), and not the entireity of atheism.

I don't believe in your God, as much as we (you and I) don't believe (though, I don't say "false gods". That's just stupid to say) in Odin, Rah and every other gods.

I imagine it's the ultimate in emptiness.

Just think, Sister. An atheist believes that after death, he will cease to exist. Not only that, but everyone he ever knows, and any difference he makes in the world, will also pass away.

Well, yea. After we die, we cease to exist. Our brain makes us experience life... Kill the brain, and you get nothing.

That "nothingness" isn't a void where you roam a voidness while deprived of your God...
When you die, you don't know you are dead.

The atheist even believes that eventually the sun will swell up and destroy the Earth!

Yea, that's about what's gona happen... In a very far future where humans might not even on Earth anymore.
The Sun will become a Red Giant, because it's fuel (Hydrogen) will become rarer and rarer (for it's normal hydrogen usage). This rarity will make the Sun "swell up", and destroy a big part of the Sol system...
After the Red Giant episode, the Sun will shrink down to a very compressed "ball" called a Blue Dwarf. Since the Sun isn't near as massive a star would have to be to become a black hole, when it compresses, it will just explode and destroy the Sol system.
But nothing will be lost, in all the gaz cloud and debris, because a fiture system will have the opportunity to form (long after the destruction of the system).

Fun fact: Jupiter is a failed star (or Sun, if you prefer). The reason why it didn't become a star is become it didn't become massive enought.

So really, nothing an atheist does can possibly matter outside of a very limited scope. The most famous person today will be forgotten in the blink of a cosmic eye. So, they may as well seek out reward and avoid punishment, yet they insist on "creating meaning in life" and helping others in silly ways, like providing food without Gospel, or designing cities (usually without churches but with all sorts of pleasant public spaces), or giving free legal or medical help to the poor! Some even become social workers, living in poverty and trying to help others fix their broken families.

... remind me what's wrong in doing all this from the kindness of the heart, and not by obligation of some higher power (or else the fiery pits of Hell)?

Every actions we do affects the world around us in small or big ways. By these actions, we are remembered. By these actions, we can cause great good... Or cause cahos...
The good actions can make us be loved by others, while the bad actions cause harm to the people around us.

Compare this to the Christian. I know, for example, that as long as I obey God, I get to spend all of eternity praising Him for His perfection, living in a vast city with streets of gold! What a wondrous reward! And even more, He promises to bless me in this life as well. And bless me He has.

How do you know for a certitude that this is real?
Why do you think that gold would have any value in Heaven? Gold isn't perfect. Gold is just a weak metal... A soft metal.

Besides, we all live with streets made with black gold.

And I also know that there is only one important way to make a difference, by helping others find Jesus and be Saved too. Any failures, either in my own obedience or in my witness to others, will lead to either me or the person I've failed to help being burned alive for all eternity in God's Lake of Fire. What a horrible punishment, and one that never ends!

As you can see, the Christian is motivated by selflessness and a love of God and man, a desire to exercise the Will of God. The depraved atheist is motivated solely by the hedonistic, reward-or-punishment that we see in lower animals.

No... You are motivated by fear.
Atheists are motivated by whatever their motivations are. It's not one entity.

[Basilissa]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

First, I speak for myself, as an atheist (since atheist is lack of belief in any god, that doesn't mean an atheist can't believe in reincarnation and such), and not the entireity of atheism.

Atheism is not a "lack of belief." Atheism is a belief - that there aren't any gods: not many, not one God, nothing. It is a belief without any justification (it's easier to show evidence that something exist, and practically impossible for the contrary).
BTW, how can you justify reincarnation if you believe that there are no gods?

Well, yea. After we die, we cease to exist. Our brain makes us experience life... Kill the brain, and you get nothing.

That "nothingness" isn't a void where you roam a voidness while deprived of your God...
When you die, you don't know you are dead.

And you know that how, exactly?

Fun fact: Jupiter is a failed star (or Sun, if you prefer). The reason why it didn't become a star is become it didn't become massive enought.

Fun fact: you're dead wrong. Even according to ungodly atheistic scientists: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...-theories.html

Every actions we do affects the world around us in small or big ways. By these actions, we are remembered. By these actions, we can cause great good... Or cause cahos...

I think you've just created some entropy in the universe by putting letters out of order

How do you know for a certitude that this is real?

We know what's real: the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16.

Why do you think that gold would have any value in Heaven? Gold isn't perfect. Gold is just a weak metal... A soft metal.

I have no clue where are you going with this. Gold is a valuable offering to God (Numbers 31:50; Haggai 2:8). God created gold, so gold is good.

Besides, we all live with streets made with black gold.

You do realize that "black gold" is an idiomatic expression and that oil has nothing to do with gold (chemically, physically, etc)?

Atheists are motivated by whatever their motivations are.

Well, isn't that a profound statement

Are you on drugs of some kind?

[Mary Etheldreda]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

Atheism is not a "lack of belief." Atheism is a belief - that there aren't any gods: not many, not one God, nothing. It is a belief without any justification (it's easier to show evidence that something exist, and practically impossible for the contrary).
BTW, how can you justify reincarnation if you believe that there are no gods?

Indeed! Atheism is naught but a new false religion. Religion directs and controls our lives. It is not a question of whether people are religious, it is only a matter of which religion a person serves. This religious orientation is often not acknowledged in our day, yet God's creatures cannot escape this fundamental truth of their nature. They may worship false gods, or they may worship the true God, but they will worship someone or something. Someone's religion controls every group, organization, institution, society. Every religion vies for power and control of our culture. Atheists simply follow the religion of the Self - they put themselves in the center of the universe and make themselves gods.

[Johny Joe Hold]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

yet God's creatures cannot escape this fundamental truth of their nature.

Sister E, you have nailed the intellectual short coming of the atheist. This gap in their thinking is so large you could drive a truck through it.

This country needs a new IQ measurement. If there were an accurate test, it would reveal True Christians™ are so much smarter than atheists.

[Poodleinacan]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

Atheism is not a "lack of belief." Atheism is a belief - that there aren't any gods: not many, not one God, nothing. It is a belief without any justification (it's easier to show evidence that something exist, and practically impossible for the contrary).
BTW, how can you justify reincarnation if you believe that there are no gods?

Then we all believe there is no Odin.
The old norse vikings could have proven to you, quite well, that their gods exist.

I did not say that I believe in reincarnation. I said that atheists can believe in reincarnation... As long as it doesn't include any god (because if it does, it's not atheism anymore).

And you know that how, exactly?

How do I know that I don't think there is life after death?

Well, our brain make us think... So yea, if our brain shuts down, we can't think. We can't be anymore (let's ignore medical science, for now).

Fun fact: you're dead wrong. Even according to ungodly atheistic scientists: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...-theories.html

Erm... I wasn't talking about how gaz giants were formed (and I ready knew about the explication of how the solar system was formed).
I said that Jupiter is a "failed star". Every gaz giant in our system have Hydrogen.
Uranus has a lot of ice particules and is the lightest of them all (only around 14 times the mass of the Earth (we are talking about a gaz/ice giant (depends on how people want to call it)).
Neptune is 17 times the mass of the Earth.
Saturn is 95 times the mass of the Earth. It's starting to get heavier.
Jupiter's mass is almost 318 time the mass of the Earth... But only 0.0009546 of the mass of the Sun (yes, it's much lower than the Sun, and also lower than the mass of a Brown Dwarf.
Since the Sun was at the center of all this, it was able to more mass than the planets and gaz giants. And with other circonstances, it happened the Jupiter wasn't able to gain more mass, because there was nothing else to absorb.

[/quote]
I think you've just created some entropy in the universe by putting letters out of order
[/quote]
yes... I wasn't shure of how to write the word... And when I typed "cahos" in Google, I didn't get corrected.

[/quote]
We know what's real: the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16.
[/quote]
I wasn't asking for a bible quote...
I'm asking for compelling arguments and explainations.
I want to understand what you think, what people think, without any bible verse.

I have no clue where are you going with this. Gold is a valuable offering to God (Numbers 31:50; Haggai 2:8). God created gold, so gold is good.

Why not Rhodium? It's the most valuable metal on Earth.

You do realize that "black gold" is an idiomatic expression and that oil has nothing to do with gold (chemically, physically, etc)?

yes I know. I used it for the sole ppirpose of comparing values.

[/quote]
Well, isn't that a profound statement

Are you on drugs of some kind?[/QUOTE]
I could be on drugs... But I do drugs. I don't smoke, I don't sniff, I don't inject myself.

If someone wants to be the very best, that no one ever was... Why should he stop from porsuing his dream?
If someone wants to cure AIDS... Why should he refrain from doing so?
If a person wants to make the world burn... Well, screw him, he ain't a very nice person.

[Poodleinacan]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

Indeed! Atheism is naught but a new false religion.

Atheism is not a religion.
Atheism is a no god(s)... Any other belief like: alien abductions, spirits, leprechauns, and so on can be part of atheism, because they do not requier an god (that doesn't mean that I believe in alien abductions, spirits and leprechauns). ... But set's stay in the classical scientific atheism.

Religion directs and controls our lives.

I have nothing else to say than: Right on!

It is not a question of whether people are religious, it is only a matter of which religion a person serves. This religious orientation is often not acknowledged in our day, yet God's creatures cannot escape this fundamental truth of their nature. They may worship false gods, or they may worship the true God, but they will worship someone or something.

I did think that, at a one time... But I found out that I didn't had to.

Someone's religion controls every group, organization, institution, society. Every religion vies for power and control of our culture.

I am speechless. Yea, religion controls people.

Atheists simply follow the religion of the Self - they put themselves in the center of the universe and make themselves gods.

You are wrong.
Please, let me remind you that Man is God's favorite creature... Erm, creation.
Earth has been said to be the center of the Univers, by religion... And every people that were saying otherwise were either killed or silenced.
You think you have the one and only true religion and that for this you will in Heaven.

We, atheists, do not think like that. We are not the center of the Univers. Andromeda is gona crash in the Milky Way (but not after many many many many many years).

And you say we think we are gods, because what?... Science discovered about genetics, energy making, technology (let's not forget that.), and many more?

Looks like should thank science and knowledge for PC (personal computers) and the internet. Engineering science and programming.

[Poodleinacan]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

Well, isn't that a profound statement

Are you on drugs of some kind?

I could be on drugs... But I do drugs. I don't smoke, I don't sniff, I don't inject myself.

Damnit, iPod Touch, you're not helping out.

I meant :
"I could be on drugs... But I don't drugs"

[Poodleinacan]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

Sister E, you have nailed the intellectual short coming of the atheist. This gap in their thinking is so large you could drive a truck through it.

This country needs a new IQ measurement. If there were an accurate test, it would reveal True Christians™ are so much smarter than atheists.

Erm... The updated test would only update the science part of it.


And besides, there are other tests that test different things.

And remember, IQ does not equal memorising the bible. This is not intelligence; it's memory.

[Rev. Edward Clement]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

The old norse vikingscould have proven to you, quite well, that their gods exist.

Those cretans are known liars.

Titus
1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians arealway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

I believe in reincarnation

We are aware of that.

The Bible says there is no reincarnation, much to your chagrin.
Luke
16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thygood things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, andthou art tormented.

16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is agreat gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot;neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

How do I know that I don't think there is life after death?

We know it by the Word of Knowledge first off and secondly because you admitit.

1 Corinthians
12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the wordof knowledge by the same Spirit;

Well, our brain make us think... So yea, if our brainshuts down, we can't think. We can't be anymore.

Also, the Bible says we think with our Heart. Wrong again, friend.

Proverbs
23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

I'm asking for compelling arguments and explainations.

I want to understandwhat you think, what people think, without any bible verse.

The Bible is the Truth and the Full Truth because Jesus IS the Way and theTruth and the Light.

John
14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comethunto the Father, but by me.

If someonewants to be the very best, that no one ever was... Why should he stop fromporsuing his dream?

Because the Gifts, which were provided by the Lord for a certain calling, andthe Callings are without repentance. In other words, if you do not fulfill yourcalling, you go straight to hell.

Romans
11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

If someone wants to cure AIDS... Why should he refrain from doing so?

Aids is the Lord’s Punishment for the sin of homersex.

Galatians
6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shallhe also reap.

6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reapcorruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap lifeeverlasting.

If a person wants to make the world burn... Well, screw him, he ain't avery nice person.

Why do you Loathe Jesus, friend? He has claimed the right through His Sacrificeto burn those who reject Him.

Luke
16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angelsinto Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy onme, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and coolmy tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

Is that really what you want?

Revelation
20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into thelake of fire.

Friend, why are you so angry with Jesus?

John
3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not iscondemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the onlybegotten Son of God.

3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come intothe world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds wereevil.

3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neithercometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

[PwettyPrincess]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

It's pretty gay having to be labelled as atheist.

I'm rather offended and I think I need to go hit some woman in the face.

[Didymus Much]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

It's pretty gay having to be labelled as atheist.

I'm rather offended and I think I need to go hit some woman in the face.

So you're a homophobe and a violent misogynist, or just trying to fit in around here?

[BelieverInGod]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

So you're a homophobe and a violent misogynist, or just trying to fit in around here?

So Didymus,

Taking the OP question one step further.

What's it like being the only intelligent atheist around?

[Didymus Much]

Re: What is it like to be an atheist?

So Didymus,

Taking the OP question one step further.

What's it like being the only intelligent atheist around?

Lonely.